Podcasts by Library Talks
Join The New York Public Library and your favorite writers, artists, and thinkers for smart talks and provocative conversations from the nation’s cultural capital.
Further podcasts by The New York Public Library
Podcast on the topic Bildung
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Outrageous: Kliph Nesteroff with Marc Maron from 2023-12-12T12:00
In this episode of Library Talks, author Kliph Nesteroff sits down with comedian Marc Maron to discuss his new book, Outrageous, which chronicles the controversies of American show busi...
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Far from Over: The Fight for the Equal Rights Amendment from 2023-11-28T12:00
Politicians and activists discuss the continuing push to revive the much-contested Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
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Mary Beard with Tim Gunn: Emperor of Rome from 2023-11-14T12:00
Mary Beard returns to the Library to talk with Tim Gunn about her new book, Emperor of Rome, her long-awaited follow up to the international bestseller SPQR.
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C Pam Zhang with Padma Lakshmi: Land of Milk and Honey from 2023-10-31T11:00
In this episode of Library Talks, C Pam Zhang sits down with Padma Lakshmi to discuss her latest novel Land of Milk and Honey, which tells the story of climate disaster and a young chef...
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Matthew Desmond and Andrea Elliott: Poverty, by America from 2023-10-17T11:00
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Matthew Desmond’s latest book, Poverty, by America, reimagines the American debate on poverty, making an original and ambitious argument about why it persi...
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Building the World We Want: Artificial Intelligence and Global Governance from 2023-10-03T11:00
Acclaimed scholar and writer Alondra Nelson leads a discussion on the transnational impacts of artificial intelligence and the need for global collaboration. Speakers include Karen Kornbluh, Mar...
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Luis Alberto Urrea: Good Night, Irene from 2023-09-19T10:00
The new novel by award-winning author Luis Alberto Urrea, Good Night, Irene, tells an overlooked story of women’s heroism in World War II, inspired by the experiences of his own mother....
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Sasha Velour and Joe E. Jeffreys: Drag Manifesto from 2023-09-05T11:00
Sasha Velour is an iconic queen. Turns out she’s also a historian! In this episode of Library Talks, Velour sits down with drag historian Joe E. Jeffreys to discuss her new book, Th...
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Sherrilyn Ifill: How America Ends and Begins Again from 2023-08-22T11:00
Welcome back!
The Library presents conversations with an incredible array of authors, performers, activists, and thinkers, and our Library Talks podcast brings some of those conv...
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Stonewall 50: The Sound of Memory from 2019-06-23T10:00
The Stonewall Riots were a flash point in LGBTQ history. After the riots that took place at the Stonewall Inn in June 1969, the LGBTQ civil rights movement went from handfuls of pioneering activ...
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Before Stonewall from 2019-06-16T10:00
Aidan Flax-Clark welcomes co-host Jason Baumann, Assistant Director for Collection Development and Coordinator of Humanities and the Library’s Listen
Marlon James Gets Nerdy with Kevin Young from 2019-06-09T10:00
Marlon James is a Jamaican novelist and winner of the Man Booker Prize. His recent book Listen
A History of the Queer Press from 2019-06-02T10:00
Erin Lee Carr and Ta-Nehisi Coates Remember David Carr from 2019-05-26T10:00
Documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr remembers her father, legendary journalist David Carr, in a moving new memoir, "All That You Leave Behind." Erin Lee Carr, went looking for support and comfor...
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How Robert Caro Writes About Power and the Powerless from 2019-05-19T10:00
At age 83, Robert Caro pulls back the curtains on his process, in his new book "Working." He also answers the question he is asked most often: why does it take him so long to write his books? Ca...
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Breaking New Ground with Dr. Carla Hayden and Tracy K. Smith from 2019-05-12T10:00
Dr. Carla Hayden is the 14th Librarian of Congress, the first African American and the first woman to hold this position. Tracy K. Smith is the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States, and Direc...
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Jill Abramson and Jane Mayer's Insider Take on the News from 2019-05-05T10:00
The former executive editor of "The New York Times" tells the story of the news industry in her new book "Listen
Eliza Griswold Uncovers the Human Cost of Fracking from 2019-04-28T10:00
Shane Bauer's Undercover Reporting from Inside a Private Prison from 2019-04-21T10:00
Going undercover as a prison guard in Winnifield, Louisiana, journalist Shane Bauer exposes the brutality of for-profit private prison systems, and this country's history of out...
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Emily Bazelon and Stacey Abrams talk Criminal Justice Reform from 2019-04-14T10:00
In the search for meaningful criminal justice reform, are prosecutors one of the keys to change? In her new book, "Charged," journalist Emily Bazelon argues that prosecutors play an "outsize ro...
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Bending Reality with G. Willow Wilson from 2019-04-07T10:00
G. Willow Wilson is a critically acclaimed novelist and co-creator of the first Muslim superhero with their own Marvel comic book series. Wilson's new book, The Bird King, is the story of a fant...
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Janet Napolitano Explains Homeland Security with Joe Biden from 2019-03-31T10:00
Few people understand the state of our national security as well as Janet Napolitano and Joe Biden. Napolitano, former Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary and the first appointed by President O...
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Still Cringing After 'Cat Person' from 2019-03-24T10:00
When "Cat Person" appeared in "The New Yorker" in December 2017, it quickly became a viral hit, striking a chord with readers at the height of the #MeToo Movement. People seemed surprised by the...
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Paperback Crushin' from 2019-03-17T10:00
The 1970s are sometimes hailed as the true dawn of young-adult literature, the decade when authors like Judy Blume and Lois Lowry showed that teen readers were worth taking seriously. Decades la...
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Frankenstein: Our Dark Mirror from 2019-03-10T11:00
Over 200 years ago, a teenage girl started a literary legacy that continues to haunt us today. Why do we still keep telling this story and how does it reflect our...
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Marilynne Robinson: Liberalism and American Tradition Pt. II from 2019-03-03T11:00
This week we're featuring part two of Marilynne Robinson's lecture on American society, government and economy titled "Liberalism and American Tradition." Robinson discusses our country's Purita...
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Marilynne Robinson: Liberalism and American Tradition Pt. I from 2019-02-24T11:00
Marilynne Robinson is one of the most celebrated American writers—she won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was awarded a National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama, to name just a few...
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How to Make Black Lives Matter at School from 2019-02-17T11:00
Envisioning 'A People's Future of the United States' from 2019-02-10T11:00
Howard Zinn’s seminal 1980 work Listen
Jason Rezaian's 544 Days in an Iranian Prison from 2019-02-03T11:00
Jason Rezaian is an American journalist and author of a new memoir. In 2014, while reporting in Tehran for the Washington Post , he was arrested and wrongfully convicted of espi...
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The Banished Immortal from 2019-01-27T11:00
Internationally bestselling author Ha Jin discussed his latest book—a new biography about legendary eighth-century Chinese poet, Li Bai. Ha Jin read some of the poet's lesser kn...
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Seeing and Being Seen in Sally Wen Mao's 'Oculus' from 2019-01-20T11:00
Sally Wen Mao is the author of Listen
Maria Popova's A Velocity of Being from 2019-01-13T11:00
Maria Popova & Claudia Bedrick curated an anthology of letters and original illustrations by 121 of the most interesting and inspiring culture-makers alive today. "A Velocity of Being," Popova's...
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Satirizing America in 'Friday Black' from 2019-01-06T11:00
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah sheds light on a modern day America full of racial violence, greed, and heartbreak in his debut collection of short stories, Listen
The Librarian Is In with Eric Klinenberg from 2018-12-30T11:00
Our friends from NYPL's The Librarian Is In podcast recorded their first-ever live episode, featuring NYU sociologist and author Eric Klinenberg. His new book "Listen
Neil Gaiman Reads "A Christmas Carol" (Rebroadcast) from 2018-12-19T11:00
To celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Dickens' classic, we're rebroadcasting this very special reading by writer and comic book author, Neil Gaiman. His live performance from 2013 uses a rar...
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A Reporting Life in Latin America from 2018-12-16T14:12:14
Award-winning journalist Alma Guillermoprieto delivered this year's annual Robert B. Silvers lecture, a series named in honor of the co-founding editor of The New York Revie...
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Magical Realism with Wayétu Moore from 2018-12-09T11:00
Wayétu Moore's debut novel explores African diasporic identity through historical fiction and magical realism. In a conversation with Buzzfeed writer, Isaac Fitzgerald, Moore talks about the sto...
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John McPhee's Album Quilt from 2018-12-02T11:00
In his seventh collection of essays, Listen
How Congress Really Works...Or Doesn't from 2018-11-25T11:00
Wyatt Cenac moderates a panel of Washington insiders and journalists about the mechanics of Congress, the archetypes for today's lawmakers, and advice on how constituents can ensure their repre...
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James Baldwin's Children's Book from 2018-11-18T11:00
Did you know that when James Baldwin was writing "If Beale Street Could Talk" he was also writing a children's book? "Listen
Susan Orlean's Ode to Libraries from 2018-11-11T11:00
More than 30 years after a fire destroyed 400,000 books at the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library, journalist Susan Orlean re-examines the tragedy in "Listen
A History of Voter Suppression with Carol Anderson from 2018-11-04T11:00
Carol Anderson is an historian, educator, and author of Listen
A Modern-day Gothic Horror Story from 2018-10-28T10:00
The bestselling English novelist of "The Essex Serpent," Sarah Perry, stopped by the Library to talk about her newest novel,"Listen
Making Movements Intersectional from 2018-10-21T10:00
Darnell L. Moore and Charlene Carruthers are two dynamic leaders and organizers committed to intersectional liberation in movements for Black lives. They are also friends and writers. Moore and ...
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Why Men Fight with Thomas Page McBee from 2018-10-14T10:00
While training for a charity boxing match at Madison Square Garden, writer Thomas Page McBee gained insight into how masculinity operates in the ring and in society— McBee became the first known...
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The Secret Memoir of Bill Cunningham from 2018-09-30T10:00
When famed fashion and society photographer Bill Cunningham died in 2016, he left behind not only an incredible archive of New York Times columns and photographs, but two identical copi...
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The Elite Charade of Changing the World from 2018-09-23T10:00
The world’s leading philanthropists are constantly working to “make the world a better place,” leading passionate campaigns against everything from climate change to poverty that had once been t...
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Looking for the Real Lolita from 2018-09-16T10:00
Vladimin Nabokov's Listen
Notes from the Reading Life: Tim Gunn and Min Jin Lee from 2018-09-09T10:00
Tim Gunn is the Emmy Award-winning former producer of "Project Runway," where for 16 seasons he mentored contestants with charm and care. But when he isn’t busy making it work, chances are he ha...
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The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire from 2018-09-02T10:00
Before the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016, there was The Up Stairs Lounge fire. Author Robert Fieseler sets the largely overlooked tragedy of the Up Stairs Lounge arson that killed 32 people i...
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There's No Such Thing As Now from 2018-08-21T10:00
Carlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist. In his new book, Listen
Two Sisters' Path Toward Radical Islam from 2018-08-14T10:00
Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad's most recent book, Listen
Chronicling Illness with Porochista Khakpour and Eileen Myles from 2018-08-07T10:00
For as far back as she can remember, writer Porochista Khakpour has been sick. She was recently diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease and has written her first memoir about her...
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Love and Lanyards with Billy Collins from 2018-07-31T10:00
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins stopped by the Library earlier this Spring to read some of his work, share a few tips on the creative process, and land a few jokes. He sat down with Paul...
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Literacy is a Human Right with The World in Words Podcast from 2018-07-24T10:00
Earlier this spring, our friends from The World in Words Podcast recorded a live show at NYPL's very own A...
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Roxane Gay and Aja Monet Tell Their Truth from 2018-07-17T10:00
Roxane Gay's latest book, Listen
Remembering to Listen with Arundhati Roy&Viet Thanh Nguyen from 2018-07-10T10:00
Twenty years after Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize for "Listen
A Future for Democracy? from 2018-07-03T10:00
New York Public Library President Anthony Marx brings together political analysts from the right and left to ask what the future holds for American democracy and for democracies around the world...
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Finding Hope on the Road in "Nomadland" from 2018-06-26T10:00
Bernstein Book Award finalist, "Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-first Century" tells the stories of a growing population of "workampers"—retirement-age Americans who live and work on ...
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Tarrell Alvin McCraney&Donja R. Love Lift Up Black Queer Narratives from 2018-06-19T10:00
Playwrights Tarell Alvin McCraney and Donja R. Love stopped by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture earlier this spring. McCraney is the Academy A...
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Sliding Off the Couch with George Saunders from 2018-06-12T10:00
Until recently, Listen
The Harrowing History of Roosevelt Island from 2018-06-05T10:00
Before there was Rikers Island, there was Blackwell's—today known as Roosevelt Island. Historian Stacy Horn's newest book Listen
Kevin Young&Claudia Rankine Discuss "Brown" from 2018-05-29T10:00
Kevin Young, Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and New Yorker poetry editor, recently published a new collection of poems titled Listen
Remembering Tom Wolfe and the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test from 2018-05-24T20:57:32
Literary icon and friend of The New York Public Library, Tom Wolfe passed away last week at the age of 88. Wolfe became a Listen
Masha Gessen Explains Horror, Humor and Hope for the Future from 2018-05-22T10:00
Masha Gessen’s book Listen
Zora Neale Hurston's Story of the Last Slave Ship Survivor from 2018-05-15T10:00
Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” is one of Zora Neale Hurston’s most important works of non-fiction that has never been published until today. Hurston recorded the story i...
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A Goddess Reimagined from 2018-05-08T10:00
Madeline Miller's first novel, The Song of Achilles, transformed The Iliad from a vast impersonal epic into an intimate and poignant love story. Now Miller turns her mind to Ho...
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Trump's Doghouse has a Revolving Door from 2018-05-01T10:00
Joshua Green's Listen
Why Net Neutrality Matters from 2018-04-24T10:00
Last December, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3–2 to repeal net neutrality—which left many people wondering "why should we be concerned about the repeal and what can be done about i...
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Sheelah Kolhatkar has Inside Information from 2018-04-17T10:00
Sheelah Kolhatkar is a staff writer at The New Yorker and is a former hedge fund analyst. Her book, Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man o...
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Isabella Rossellini Shares Her Eggs from 2018-04-10T10:00
Actor Isabella Rossellini raises chickens; evolutionary biologist Menno Schilthuizen studies them. In My Chickens Rossellini unexpectedly breeds 38 yel...
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Building Movements with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Shaun King from 2018-04-03T10:00
How have social justice movements evolved in the fifty years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s death? Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an author and professor of African American Studies...
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Reforming America's Prisons from 2018-03-27T10:00
New York Public Library President Anthony Marx brought together criminal-justice-reform advocates from the right and left to discuss the complex issues of American incarceration—Reginald Dwayne ...
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Dr. John Carlos Has No Regrets from 2018-03-20T10:00
Civil Rights leader and legendary athlete, Dr. John Carlos, made history on the Olympic podium in 1968. After medaling in the 200 meter race in Mexico City, he and Tommie Smith raised their fist...
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Debut Novelist Akwaeke Emezi Recenters Reality from 2018-03-13T10:00
Akwaeke Emezi is an Igbo and Tamil writer and video artist. Listen
Michelle McNamara and Patton Oswalt's search for the Golden State Killer from 2018-03-06T11:00
The comedian and actor Patton Oswalt shares the posthumous true-crime masterpiece written by his wife Michelle McNamara, who died suddenly at the age of 46 in 2016. McNamara, a true crime report...
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Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner from 2018-02-27T11:00
In 1971 when Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers and revealed the true story of American involvement in Vietnam, he was holding on to a much larger and more terrifying set of American sec...
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Neel Mukherjee Tells Ghost Stories from 2018-02-20T11:00
Aidan Flax-Clark speaks with author Neel Mukherjee about his new novel, "A State of Freedom" and his evolving notions of home, autonomy, migration, and ghosts. ”A ghost is someone who belonged t...
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Tayari Jones Redefines American Marriage from 2018-02-13T11:00
You may have read about Tayari Jones’s latest novel on quite a few “most anticipated books of 2018” lists, and for good reason. Inspired by her research into the ...
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Black Lives Matter Co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors from 2018-02-06T11:00
To celebrate the publication of When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, Patrisse Khan-Cullors and her co-author asha bandele stopped by the Schomburg Center for Research in ...
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Networking with Niall Ferguson and Gillian Tett from 2018-01-30T11:00
The Hunt for Timothy Leary from 2018-01-22T21:28:24
Jessica B. Harris and Carla Hall from 2018-01-16T11:00
The James Beard Award–winning food historian and cookbook writer was at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture this past fall to talk about her memoir, My Soul Looks Back, with chef ...
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Naomi Klein&Martin Breum: Climate Change and the Arctic Imagination from 2018-01-09T11:00
The best-selling journalist speaks with Danish reporter on the Arctic, Martin Breum, about melting ice and global solutions for our changing climate.
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Masha Gessen—The Stories of a Life from 2018-01-02T11:00
The journalist and 2017 National Book Award Winner delivered the Library's annual Robert B. Silvers Lecture. The talk is named in honor of the co-founding editor of the New York Review of Books,...
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